PUPPET // KATSUKI BAKUGO [1]

Chapter 28 // Naps and Cats

By Monday morning, you were on a bus with the rest of your classmates and heading deep into the mountains. Your back was feeling better, but it still ached whenever you stretched or made any sudden movements.

You looked at Bakugo, who sat beside you, and whose head was resting against the window. His eyes were closed, but you knew he wasn't asleep from the way he occasionally readjusted his position.

"Bakugo," you said, earning a small hum from the blond.

Feeling poised to embarrass the boy, you reached over and intertwined your fingers with his. You expected him to jolt immediately, maybe look around to see if anyone had noticed. You assumed he'd yell or make a big scene.

Surprisingly, he did none of the things you wrote down on your mental list. Instead, he squeezed your hand in return before pulling your interlocked hands to rest in his lap. You blushed before looking away.

Did he realize what he was doing? The two of you were on a bus crowded with your classmates who were notorious for teasing, and he was deciding to willingly hold your hand. Was he not as awake as you thought?

"Bakugo," you said, poking the boys arm. He grumbled and made no attempt to respond verbally.

"Ba," you poked him once more, "ku," and again, "go," and one last time. The boy tiredly lifted his head and looked at you with a small but noticeable glare.

"What?" he questioned.

"You do realize you're holding my hand in a public space where there are two dozen kids who are prone to teasing, right?" you asked.

Bakugo lifted his head off the window, replying with, "that what you woke me up for? Tch."

You watched curiously as Bakugo sunk back in his seat and closed his eyes, but, instead of resting his head on the window, he dropped it against your shoulder.

"I told you. If you care about peoples opinions so much, you'll get nowhere," the blond mumbled.

You felt your cheeks unwillingly begin to burn at Bakugo's affection as you looked around to see if any eyes were on you.

Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing, but you managed to catch Mina looking back at you from the front of the bus. She smiled while giving you a thumbs up before turning back around.

You looked down at yours and Bakugo's still interlocked hands before taking a few moments to relax. You tilted your head to the right and rested your cheek against the top of Bakugo head, not minding the way his soft, blond locks tickled your skin.

¥¥¥

"WAKE UP, LOVEBIRDS!"

"Mina, don't yell."

You jerked awake at the sound of Mina's loud voice to find the acidic girl hovering over you, Kaminari and Sero standing behind her and peering down at you as best they could.

As you finally processed Mina's words, your eyes widened and you looked down at Bakugo, who had begun to awaken and who was also very angry.

"Get out of the explosion range. He's gonna blow!" Kaminari exclaimed jokingly upon seeing Bakugo's displeased face.

Bakugo only grew more angry at Kaminari's comment as he lunged toward the other boy, but you placed your hands on his chest to prevent him from strangling the golden haired boy.

"Alright, enough fighting," Aizawa spoke from the front of the bus. "Everyone off."

The class slowly piled off the bus, you having to drag Bakugo by his forearm since he insisted on going back to sleep rather than leaving. When you stepped off the bus, you looked around in confusion.

"There's nothing here," Mina stated, looking around at the forest that surrounded them. Your eyes scanned the horizon, which was very visible since you were stood at the edge of a cliff.

"Yeah, this isn't a rest stop," Sero added.

"I gotta pee," Kaminari whined.

You, along with the rest of the students, stumbled back in shock when three figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere, landing on the edge of the cliff.

"Rock on with these sparkling gazes!"

"Stingingly cute and catlike!"

"We're the Wild, Wild Pussy-Cats!"

"What...the hell...is this?" you asked slowly upon seeing the three cat-like heroes that were now standing yards in front of you.

"The Pussy-Cats, Mandalay, Pixie-Bob, Ragdoll, and Tiger," Aizawa began, "a four member team who all work under one agency. They specialize in mountain rescue. They've been at it for twelves years now."

"Oh, don't flaunt us Eraser," Mandalay said with an exaggerated smile. "We're plenty capable of doing that ourselves," she then turned to the class. "This whole area is our territory. Your lodge is at the foot of that mountain over there," she pointed into the distance with her paw-like glove.

"Why'd we stop halfway then?"

"That's a long way."

"Let's get back on the bus."

"It's 9:30 A.M. Lunch is at 12:30," Mandalay added. "Any kitties who don't make it there by then won't get any lunch," she grinned, and, as if on cue, everyone finally realized what was happening.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." you muttered.

"Sorry kids," Aizawa muttered in fake guilt as Pixie-Bob used her quirk to erupt the ground into an elevated hill of rock. "The training has already begun."

[EDITED]